Israel accused of preventing a two-state solution

by Hazel Ward,
February 28 2013, 08:58

Hazel Ward

Israel accused of preventing a two-state solution

ISRAEL’s settlement construction in annexed east Jerusalem is part of a strategy aimed at preventing the Holy City from becoming the capital of two states, an internal European Union (EU) report found on Wednesday.

In its Jerusalem Report 2012, a copy of which was seen by AFP, the EU said Jewish settlement construction posed "the biggest single threat to the two-state solution."

Describing Israel’s settlement construction in east Jerusalem as "systematic, deliberate and provocative" the report accused the Jewish state of making deliberate political choices that threatened to render the two-state solution impossible.

Relations between Israel and the EU have been particularly tense in recent months, with Europe voicing increasing discontent over a raft of Israeli plans to build more than 5,000 new settler homes in and around annexed east Jerusalem.

The standoff has sparked Israeli concerns the 27-member bloc, its largest import and export market, could move to implement a series of punitive trade sanctions.

Authored by EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the report flagged construction in three southern areas — Har Homa, Gilo and Givat HaMatos — as being the "most significant and problematic plans". "The construction of these three settlements is part of a political strategy aiming at making it impossible for Jerusalem to become the capital of two states," it warned.

"If the current pace of settlement activity on Jerusalem’s southern flank persists, an effective buffer between east Jerusalem and Bethlehem may be in place by the end of 2013, thus making the realisation of a viable two-state solution inordinately more difficult, if not impossible." Last year, tenders were issued for 2,366 new housing units which was "more than twice" the total number issued over the preceding three years which stood at 1,145, the report said.

Most of them were for construction in Har Homa, thereby "significantly expanding the existing footprint of the settlement’s built-up area." Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it, a move never recognised by the international community.

It considers all of Jerusalem its "eternal, undivided" capital and does not see construction in the eastern sector as settlement building.

But the Palestinians want east Jerusalem for the capital of their promised state, and they — along with the international community — consider settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank as a violation of international law.

"If the implementation of the current Israeli policy regarding the city continues, particularly settlement activity, the prospect of Jerusalem as a future capital of two states — Israel and Palestine — becomes practically unworkable," the summary of the report reads.

"This threatens to make the two-state solution impossible." The report also flagged Israel’s decision to push forward with plans to build 3,426 units in E1 — a deeply sensitive area of the West Bank just east of the Holy City where experts say construction would isolate Arab east Jerusalem and cut the West Bank in two. "The implementation of the E1 project, which threatens 2,300 Bedouin with forcible transfer, would effectively divide the West Bank into separate northern and southern parts," it warned.

"It would prevent Palestinians in east Jerusalem from further urban development and cut off east Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank."

ISRAEL’s settlement construction in annexed east Jerusalem is part of a strategy aimed at preventing the Holy City from becoming the capital of two states, an internal European Union (EU) report found on Wednesday.

In its Jerusalem Report 2012, a copy of which was seen by AFP, the EU said Jewish settlement construction posed "the biggest single threat to the two-state solution."

Describing Israel’s settlement construction in east Jerusalem as "systematic, deliberate and provocative" the report accused the Jewish state of making deliberate political choices that threatened to render the two-state solution impossible.

Relations between Israel and the EU have been particularly tense in recent months, with Europe voicing increasing discontent over a raft of Israeli plans to build more than 5,000 new settler homes in and around annexed east Jerusalem.

The standoff has sparked Israeli concerns the 27-member bloc, its largest import and export market, could move to implement a series of punitive trade sanctions.

Authored by EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the report flagged construction in three southern areas — Har Homa, Gilo and Givat HaMatos — as being the "most significant and problematic plans". "The construction of these three settlements is part of a political strategy aiming at making it impossible for Jerusalem to become the capital of two states," it warned.

"If the current pace of settlement activity on Jerusalem’s southern flank persists, an effective buffer between east Jerusalem and Bethlehem may be in place by the end of 2013, thus making the realisation of a viable two-state solution inordinately more difficult, if not impossible." Last year, tenders were issued for 2,366 new housing units which was "more than twice" the total number issued over the preceding three years which stood at 1,145, the report said.

Most of them were for construction in Har Homa, thereby "significantly expanding the existing footprint of the settlement’s built-up area." Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it, a move never recognised by the international community.

It considers all of Jerusalem its "eternal, undivided" capital and does not see construction in the eastern sector as settlement building.

But the Palestinians want east Jerusalem for the capital of their promised state, and they — along with the international community — consider settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank as a violation of international law.

"If the implementation of the current Israeli policy regarding the city continues, particularly settlement activity, the prospect of Jerusalem as a future capital of two states — Israel and Palestine — becomes practically unworkable," the summary of the report reads.

"This threatens to make the two-state solution impossible." The report also flagged Israel’s decision to push forward with plans to build 3,426 units in E1 — a deeply sensitive area of the West Bank just east of the Holy City where experts say construction would isolate Arab east Jerusalem and cut the West Bank in two. "The implementation of the E1 project, which threatens 2,300 Bedouin with forcible transfer, would effectively divide the West Bank into separate northern and southern parts," it warned.

"It would prevent Palestinians in east Jerusalem from further urban development and cut off east Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank."

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